Spatial Data Transfer Standard:
Changes from the FIPSPUB 173-1 Version to ANSI Version
This document describes the substantive changes included in the SDTS version submitted to ANSI, as compared to the FIPSPUB 173-1 version of 1994. The ANSI version is available in Word for softcopy distribution, however not all formatting has been preserved. Changes are marked in the document with change bars in the margins. (The official master copy of SDTS Part 1 through 4 is maintained in Adobe Framemaker5.)
The use of this standard for archive purposes and for blind transfers has been added to its scope.
Spatial Object Glossary - definition of voxel and voxel space has been added. Also, a rectangle variant grid has been added.
Support for Nongeospatial Dimensions has been added. This allows a spatial address to be extended to be something like x,y,z,time,parts per billion, or whatever. The additional dimensions are user-defined via a new module called Dimension Definition module.
The inclusion of copyright information has been added to the Security module, to make this module more useful to the private sector.
The Data Dictionary is now used to define raster layer names and specify the meaning of grid cell values.
The set of raster modules has been changed extensively. The Raster Definition, Layer Definition, and Cell Module are used to encode raster data of all types. Alternate file format encodings for the raster data cell values is now permitted as adjunct files. Both compression and adjunct file formats must be defined by a profile. A new annex has been added which specifies the details for spatial registration of n-dimensional raster data. An annex with some raster example has been added.